This invention relates generally to dimmable headlights having light-transmissive shields for creating light figures having at least central portions lying generally below horizontal middle planes and displaced from sides of vertical planes facing away from oncoming traffic.
Such a dimmable headlight is disclosed in german offenlegungsschrift 34 17 034. A light-transmissive shield is divided into multi surface zones which are occupied by overlying prisms and lenses. Four such surface zones divert light in a partial area of a light figure reaching a higher-level portion of a bright-dark border. A plurality of other surface zones divert light below a portion of the bright-dark border extending at a lower level. In this manner, the light figure is a composite of complete or partial overlapping partial areas. Since the light-transmissive shield has many surface zones with various overlying optical devices, such as for example, prisms and lens, with many optical devices of various forms and sizes, it is quite difficult and time intensive to develop and produce such optical devices.
Further, there is another prior-art headlight, of which FIG. 1 is a front view, looking into a reflector 8' thereof, and FIG. 2 is a graphical view of filament images 12' produced thereby. The filament images 12' lie in a partial area 100' of a light figure, which reaches a higher-level portion of a light-dark border. The filament images 12' are created by light rays, or beams, which are reflected from those areas provided with crosses 10'. In this regard, those positions provided with crosses 10' are spread approximately evenly over a reflection surface of the reflector 8' and thereby optical devices for light beams reflected from these positions 10' must be arranged so that the partial figure 100' is created. The light-transmissive shield (not shown in the drawings) of this headlight has a plurality of surface zones with various types of optical devices. Because of this, length axes of the filament images 12' in the partial area 100' do not extend in an orderly manner relative to one another.
It is an object of this invention to provide a dimmable headlight of a type defined in the first paragraph of claim 1 hereof which distributes light according to legal requirements (for example U.S.A. requirements) with a reduction in the number of surface zones of a light-transmissive shield occupied by various types of optical devices as well as overlapping optical devices, in particularly, however, in the number of those surface zones of the light-transmissive shield through which light beams falling on a partial area of a light figure pass which extends to a higher-level portion of a bright-dark border.